Brian Hayes: 'You fear for the worst but thankfully it wasn't anything serious'
Hayes appeared to have jarred his knee in Cork's Division 1 game at home to the Tribesmen, coming off in the 60th minute after receiving treatment on the field.
There was some concern at the time that he had suffered a cruciate injury, but a scan later ruled out any torn ligaments.
Hayes has been in brilliant form for Cork, finishing the league with 5-8 before posting 2-4 in their first two games of the Munster round-robin series. He is relieved to have put that challenging period behind him and resumed his excellent run of performances for Cork.
'I had a nasty fall on the knee,' he says, thinking back to that incident against Galway.
'You fear for the worst at the start but thankfully it wasn't anything serious and we were just relying on symptoms to see how long it would take to get back. Thankfully, it wasn't too long and I was able to work with the physios and S&Cs that we have, and the doctors. It's been fine since thank God.'
Hayes also picked up some nerve damage with that injury but was able to make a full recovery within a three-week period. There was also some swelling on the night of the injury, and walking was difficult to begin with.
'The games are coming so thick and fast, you can't really afford to be missing any matches,' Hayes adds.
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'We're always minding ourselves and keeping our bodies right. Our S&Cs are good that way, that we're minding ourselves.'
He is now fully immersed in Cork's hurling ambitions but football remains in Hayes' thoughts. A Cork senior in that code in 2022, he continues to line out at club level for St Finbarr's.
St Finbarr's Brian Hayes and Kilcoo's Aaron Branagan in action in the 2022 All-Ireland club semi-final. Ken Sutton / INPHO Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO
'I'd still be playing football with the Barr's but loving the hurling as well. I played U20 hurling with Cork as well so it wasn't all football.
'I was down there (at Cork-Kerry Munster football semi-finals) supporting them with a few of the other hurling lads. Knowing the lads on a personal level, you'd be wishing them the best but we had our own focus going down to Ennis the next day. But the new rules look cool, I'd like to try them out.
'I can't wait to go back to club. Since I first got involved with the Barr's in football, it's kind of changed. My last game was with the old rules when Castlehaven got the better of us so it'd be nice to see how we get on with the new rules.'
Since linking up with the Cork hurling squad for the outset of the 2023 season, his hurling career has soared.
Working with Pat Ryan, his manager at U20 level, has been something he has relished.
'Different people on the panel would have different relationships with Pat. The older lads had him in 2016/2017 so they would have known him then. There's a group of 15/16 of us who had him at U20 level. He's given different people different chances.
'He's great for that and you'd always have great respect for him. He's just a great man to have around the place. He's been great to me and a good friend of ours as well.
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'Pat [Ryan] and his coaching group have been with my age from U20. We had two great years together. They carried that into senior and it's a great environment to be involved in. It's full of good people who look out for each other. I'm loving it.'
Cork's Brian Hayes and Darragh Lohan of Clare. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
Hayes is looking forward to Sunday's eagerly-awaited clash against Limerick.
'We've welcomed the break after a couple of tough weeks. We had the league final and then we were straight into the championship so it's nice to get the bodies right, and get back training to focus on a few things we wanted to work on.
'We've been building into it for the last three weeks so there's been a nice buzz around the place. We've a lot to work on from the first two games and we're looking to bring that into Sunday. It'll be close like any other game.'
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Brian Hayes was today named the PwC GAA/GPA Players of the Month in hurling for April
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